Automated quality control of AERONET-OC Lwn data

• Published in: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• Main Authors: ZIBORDI Giuseppe, D'ALIMONTE Davide, KAJIYAMA Tamito
• Language: English
• Published: AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC 2022
• Subjects: Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC128873; https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atot/39/12/JTECH-D-22-0029.1.xml; https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-22-0029.1

Quality Control (QC) practices are a fundamental requirement for any measurement program targeting the delivery of high-quality data. In agreement with such a necessity, the Ocean Color component of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-OC) includes a number of QC steps ensuring the delivery of normalized water-leaving radiance LWN spectra at incremental accuracy levels identified as Level 1.0, Level 1.5 and Level 2.0. Currently, the final QC step allowing for rising Level 1.5 Lwn spectra to Level 2.0 implies the execution of an expert-based procedure, which is extremely time consuming and naturally undergoes subjective decisions on dubious cases. These limitations solicited the development of an automated procedure, so called , mimicking the steps supporting an expert analyst during the final QC of AERONET-OC Lwn spectra. applies hierarchical tests to check: i. the relative-consistency of Level 1.5 Lwn spectra (candidates) with respect to Lwn reference spectra (prototypes) constructed using Lwn spectra independently quality checked; ii. the temporal consistency of each Lwn candidate with respect to close-in-time spectra; and finally iii. the absence of any pronounced spectral feature in portions of the Lwn candidate spectrum expected to exhibit a regular shape. JRC.D.2 - Water and Marine Resources